Kevin Drum on federal spending hysteria:
Bottom line: our current deficit panic is mostly just manufactured hysteria. Our recent spike in spending is an artifact of the recession and will go away in the next few years. Generally speaking, defense, discretionary, and interest expenses aren't an issue and don't really need any special attention. Social Security is basically fine and needs only a few small tweaks. The only thing we should be seriously concerned about is healthcare spending. Period. That's the whole story. Anything else is just partisan showmanship.
And it goes without saying that the way to fix Medicare is to raise taxes on Americans who can easily afford by dropping the income cap ($106,000) on the payroll tax. Problem solved.